Puerto Rico again Without Power

Last Wednesday, Puerto Rico was struck with another power outage that spread throughout the entire island. This is the biggest setback Puerto Rico has had since Hurricane Maria devastated the island. More than 3.4 million residents were left without power.

This major Power outage was caused by a company called D. Grimm, a subcontractor for Cobra Acquisitions. While trying to fix a downed power line, a bulldozer got to close to a high voltage line creating a chain reaction that destroyed the power grid. This same company was recently responsible for another power outage on the island that affected more than 870,000 homes after a tree fell on a power line.

Governor Ricardo Rossello said in a tweet that he thinks Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority should cancel its contract with Cobra Acquisitions.

By 8PM on the night of the incident only 340,000 people had their power restored. Officials said that they would prioritize hospitals, airports, sewer and water pumping station, and banking centers before anything.

A resident affected by the power outage said “Today’s total power outage in Puerto Rico pinpoints the fact that we are still in a very fragile state. Moreover, the suffering of the Puerto Rican people seems to be nowhere nearing an end.”